School Life with Matalan – a review

As you know Monkey has been in his school’s Nursery Class since last September. So we’ve already been wearing a full school uniform for nearly a whole academic year. What have I learnt in that time? Boy’s get VERY messy, shoes get scuffed to death on the very first day and the school’s branded uniform is rather expensive. When I was asked to become a Matalan blogger and try out their School Life with Matalan uniform range, I was eager to see what they had to offer.

We received a pack of black socks size 9-12, perfect for a size 11 Monkey, a 3 pack of white polo shirts – age 4-5, trousers in age 5 and some long-sleeved white shirts, again in age 4-5.

The socks are great, a good fit, well finished and Monkey is making use of them already.

Monkey is really hard-wearing when it comes to trousers, so I was really interested to see what the Matalan range would be like. The quality of the fabric appears to be good, they are elasticated around the waist with adjustable straps and pleated. I went for the size 5 as Monkey is growing so fast at the moment. They actually come up quite long, so I’ll be putting these to the real test in September. But first impressions look good. (Excuse the quality of this shot – my son was having one of his ‘I will not stand still for you Mummy’ moments!)

Monkey’s school uniform colour is burgundy, the school logo polo shirts are rather pricey so I’ve generally opted for cheaper plain white polo shirts. Of course, the down side with this option is that my son is a muck magnet. I send him to school looking nice and clean, he comes home looking like he’s been on an army assault course followed by a quick run through a paint shop. I know, he’s a boy, that’s what they do! I’ve also learnt that ‘easy wash/stay white’ doesn’t always mean that!

So would school life with Matalan keep Monkey looking sparkling white? The 3 pack of unisex polo shirts are 100% cotton, machine washable and can be tumble dried (if you have that luxury). As with the trousers, the back of the wash label becomes a name tag – rather useful. I really like the texture of these polo-shirts. Monkey likes the fact they have three buttons, rather than the two on all his other shirts – little things!

The polo shirts fit well, and most importantly they wash well. He went to school in one of these polo shirts on Friday morning, came home 3 hours later covered in paint or felt tip pen in various colours (the photo below really doesn’t do the stains justice – trust me). But after a standard wash, the polo shirt looks as good as new. These will certainly be well used.

We haven’t had an opportunity to try out the long-sleeved shirts yet, but again they look well made, the sizing is good, and I’m sure they will also wash well.

The prices for these items are great – £17.50 and Monkey is ready for school life with Matalan. They also stock shoes, jumpers , sweatshirts and anything else you could possibly need for going back to school in September.

disclaimer: we were sent these items in exchange for an honest review.

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About Over 40 and a Mum to One

I'm a Mum in my late 40′s with an 8 year old son. I had a busy life in Export Sales before my Monkey came along, but decided to become a stay at home Mum once he arrived. Now I enjoy writing my own family lifestyle and travel blog. sharing the adventures that we have as Monkey makes his journey through school. We have a cat called Brewster who makes appearances and I’m a mad Ferrari Formula 1 fan, so that expect to hear about as each season unfolds. We love reviewing days out, toys, games and books and would love the opportunity to look at anything that fits in with our family lifestyle. We are always out and about and offering an insight on the places we visit, with a passion for nature thrown in for good measure. If you like what you read please leave me a comment, I love to hear from people, and always try to reply. Enjoy the read.

Aw Matalan wanted us to review, but said H was too young so we haven’t had anything yet (despite her starting in Year 1 in September!) – good to know it washes well and wears well – we ended up buying a dress for her as we were so desperate for summer clothes – thank goodness they’re such good value! It’s silly too, we have two Matalan’s nearby and I should make more of an effort!

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